Spider-Man turns 50 this month

Published 6:04 pm, Friday, August 17, 2012

Comic-book writer Dan Slott has a simple explanation for Spider-Man's popularity: He's who we would be as superheroes.

Superman is the hero we can't be, he says, while Batman is the hero we could be if we tried really hard.

"If we got super powers we would be Spider-Man," Slott says. "We would make all the same mistakes, all the screw-ups. It would totally mess up our social life and create all kinds of soap opera problems."

Meek Peter Parker first became the mighty arachnid avenger in the August 1962 issue of "Amazing Fantasy" No. 15. Marvel Entertainment is celebrating its flagship hero's big 5-0 with special titles hittng comic shops and the Marvel Comics App this month. The highlight is Wednesday's "The Amazing Spider-Man" No. 692, a giant-size tome Marvel calls "the one, true 50th Anniversary Issue of the Amazing Spider-Man."

"It's really simple. It's going back to formula," Slott says of the semi-centennial issue. "When Spider-Man got his powers, he was a kid going to a science exhibit. ... He got bit by a spider that fell in the path of those radioactive rays in the science exhibit. This time Peter, who is now a working scientist, he's having an exhibit of his brand new invention and it zaps a kid. The fun of it is it's 50 years and history is repeating itself."

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Five decades of wall-crawling and web-slinging

1962: Spidey's golden rule - "With great power comes great responsibility" - appears near the end of his comic-book debut. It's often credited as advice from Peter's late Uncle Ben, whose murder he could have prevented as Spider-Man.

1967: Spider-Man cartoon debuts with a popular theme song featuring lyrics by Oscar-winner Paul Francis Webster. Michael Bublé and the Ramones have covered the catchy ditty.

1987: Spider-Man joins the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade as a giant balloon.

2001: The December issue of "Amazing Spider-Man" features the title on an all-black cover. In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Spider-Man and other Marvel heroes aid rescue efforts in the rubble of the Twin Towers.

2003: Neil Patrick Harris is Peter Parker in MTV's animated series.

2011: Big-budget musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" opens after injuries, the exit of director Julie Taymor and the longest preview period in Broadway history.

2012: Spider-Man gets a kid sidekick, Alpha.

René A. Guzman

Slott has some other ideas on what makes Spidey so amazing at 50:

The beauty of the mask

Peter Parker may be a Caucasian science geek, but anyone of any race can picture himself behind the webbed mask.

"When you see that face mask, he could be Latino, he could be Japanese, he could be anything in the world," Slott says.

It's about the Man, not the Spider

Spidey's tale is really about Peter Parker, a man who happens to be a superhero.

"That was the magic of (Spider-Man creators) Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, that no one had really done that," Slott says. "You are reading a romance comic. You are reading a soap opera. And you didn't know it because he would put on tights and fight the Sandman."

Woe is he

Talk about never catching a break. Peter's frail Aunt May often knocks at Death's door, while law enforcement often mistrusts Spider-Man no matter how many thugs and super-villains he takes off the streets. Heck, Spidey even does his own laundry.

As Slott puts it, it's never just Spider-Man swinging on a web. "It's Spider-Man got pooped on by a pigeon. This doesn't happen to anybody else."

But there's great fun, too

Spidey shoulders a ton of great responsibility, but Slott says he also finds moments to relish in his great power. And who wouldn't love to scale buildings and swing from rooftops - with the proportionate strength of a spider and plenty of web fluid, of course.

"Here's everything that life is throwing at you, and for as much as (it's) suddenly, 'Oh no, I have to turn into Spider-Man,' there's also that level of 'I get to turn into Spider-Man,' " Slott says. "And that's the escape. That's why we plunk down the money and peel back the cover. Because we want to escape into that world."